I would appreciate if anyone could advance any further information about James Dillon, master in the Royal Navy. I have traced that he was appointed to command of the POMPEE on the 10th November 1814, and was , I think, on the CORNWALLIS previous to that, possibly 1809. I am trying to find what became of this man. with thanks Jenny Fawcett

Hi Jenny I have him promoted to Master 30 Nov 1809, http://www.pbenyon1.plus.com/Nbd/masters/20534.html and mentioned in a list of the masters, medical officers, and pursers published in 1827 : see : <http://books.google.com/books?id=Iu8NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA9&dq=%22James+Dillon%22+Master&hl=en&ei=qqcATuCnKM6UOrfJoP8N&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false> There is another mention of him in what appears to be an early edition of the Navy List for 1828, but he would appear to have disappeared from the Navy List before the end of the year (1828). Unfortunately the Navy Lists for this period do not detail when or why officers have been removed. So to summarise he seems to have disappeared prior to the September edition for 1828, but the on-line copy in Google Books which I down loaded some months ago seems to have been a loose leaf version or was scanned in reverse order and it is very difficult to follow, to say the least ;-) Regarding his appointments, I agree that he was appointed to the POMPEE 16 Nov 1814, as Master, which is not to say that he was in command : the ship was commanded by Captain Sir J. Athol Wood, and there were a number of Lieutenants who would have been senior to him, in that they held an executive rank. In Nov 1815 I have a note that the vessel was returning her stores and guns preparatory to being paid off: http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/P/03597.html which appears to tie in with his removal from the ship's books about this time. In view of the difficulty officers experienced getting appointments following the end of the Napoleonic wars, with too many officers looking for appointments to too few ships and vessels, I wouldn't be surprised if the appointment mentioned by Peter Klein to the Brisk: http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/B/00681.html wasn't the only one before he disappeared from the Navy List, but unfortunately we don't know whether his disappearance from the List was caused by his death, or because he may have found work as a Master in the Merchant Service. Many Masters and Paymasters, with family commitments etc., and the need to maintain their status, found that they were unable to exist on their half-pay and there are a number of letters on the subject in newspapers of the 1820s and 30s, and a few managed to find work elsewhere, but at the same time we know that folk often died much younger in those days, what with cholera and other diseases for which there was no treatment. Unlike the Merchant Service the Master of an RN ship was rarely in command unless, when a senior master, he was appointed as master in command of say a troop or store ship i.e. a vessel that would not normally have been used for offensive purposes and was only lightly armed for defensive purposes. Paul On Tue, 21 Jun 2011 23:14:52 +1000, "pat fawcett" <orangebox@aussiebb.com.au> wrote: >I would appreciate if anyone could advance any further information about >James Dillon, master in the Royal Navy. > >I have traced that he was appointed to command of the POMPEE on the 10th >November 1814, and was , I think, on the CORNWALLIS previous to that, >possibly 1809. >I am trying to find what became of this man. > >with thanks >Jenny Fawcett > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message 50° 33' N, 2° 26' W http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html